CNN: Iran Sealed Uranium Tunnels Amid Fears of a U.S. Commando Raid

CNN reported that Iran has sharply stepped up efforts in recent weeks to block off and fortify access to its enriched uranium stockpile, according to five sources familiar with U.S. intelligence. Satellite images and intelligence assessments indicate that Tehran deliberately collapsed tunnels and planted mines and explosives at site entrances, out of fear that the United States was preparing a secret military operation to seize the material.

The main assessment is that most of Iran’s stockpile, enriched to 60 percent, close to weapons grade, is now buried under ruined tunnels at the nuclear facility in Isfahan in central Iran, with smaller amounts held at other sites. U.S. officials said access to roughly half a ton of enriched uranium has become much more difficult, dangerous, and time consuming than it was about a month ago, when President Donald Trump publicly hinted that he was considering ordering a U.S. military raid on the stockpiles.

Analysts cited in the report said Trump’s public remarks may have given Iran the immediate incentive to rush ahead with the booby-trapping of the asset. The Pentagon had reportedly already prepared in mid-May for a complex ground operation to seize the material, but it was canceled at the last minute after being judged too risky.

The new fortifications complicate the emerging talks between the Trump administration and Tehran. The White House wants an agreement under which Iran would transfer the uranium to the United States, where it would be destroyed and removed from Iran as part of a broader effort to end tensions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to free navigation. Former U.S. nuclear experts warned that Iran could now tell international inspectors that some of the uranium is impossible to recover, leaving hidden reserves it could use later while Washington would have no way to verify the claim.